Ranger 1
Ranger 1
Ranger 1, the first of a series of nine spacecraft launched in the early 1960s to explore the moon, was a test spacecraft built as a prelude to future lunar missions.
Mission Statistics
Launch Date
Aug. 23, 1961
Type
OrbiterTarget
EarthStatus
PastAbout the mission
Ranger 1, the first of a series of nine spacecraft launched in the early 1960s to explore the moon, was a test spacecraft built as a prelude to future lunar missions. It was designed to make a highly elliptical Earth orbit and carried several science instruments for studying cosmic rays, magnetic fields and energetic particles.
During launch, a rocket malfunction caused the spacecraft to get stranded in low-Earth orbit, and one week after launch, it burned up upon reentering Earth's atmosphere.
Instruments
- Lyman-alpha telescope
- Magnetometer
- Electrostatic analyzer
- Cosmic ray detector
- Cosmic dust detector
- Scintillation counters